


You Good?

by Fangirlwriting



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-10-29 04:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17801249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting
Summary: Chloe Valentine thought she was straight for a really long time— meaning up until a few days ago, when she started questioning some things.  The person who made her start questioning those things was Jenna Rolan, who Chloe is 87% sure she is developing a crush on.  But of course, there is a very obvious problem, being how exactly is she supposed to hide her feelings when she has to hide them from the most observant person in the universe?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I recently discovered this ship, and guys, seriously it’s SO CUTE. But when I looked up works relating to it I could only find one on this whole website, so I took my authority as an author to write whatever the heck I want. Enjoy, or don’t, I’m gonna write it anyway.

It wasn’t like Chloe had never walked in on girls changing before.  She had had P.E. for the first two years of high school and all of middle school, in which she had to either change in front of other girls or arrive late, so she got over it pretty quickly.  Her and Brooke had changed in front of each other during sleepovers for ages, and it had never been a big deal. For most of her life, Chloe’s stance was basically, ‘We’re all girls here, who cares’ (A fairly cliché stance, she knew, but it was true).

But Jenna sounded so utterly mortified when Chloe opened the bathroom door that it made Chloe jerk away and yell “Sorry, sorry!” like she hadn’t done since she was six.

The whole of the “Squip Squad” (blame Rich) had gotten together for a sleepover that now took place at Chloe’s house by default— her house had been the second biggest after Jake’s, and unless they all wanted to try backyard camping—

Yeah.  Chloe’s house was now the default.

When she had gone to change her pajamas in the bathroom— because this time there were _boys_ present and because there were several others who were not as comfortable (mainly Christine, Jeremy, and Rich) with changing in front of others, they all took turns in the bathroom.  But Brooke had taken the main one and Christine the second one in the master bedroom, which left Chloe to trek down to the cold dark basement (thanks a lot you two), where the half bathroom with the shitty lock resided.

The shitty lock coming into effect when Chloe walked in on Jenna.

“CHLOE!” Jenna screeched, immediately grabbing the hand towel to try and cover herself with.

“Ahh, sorry, sorry!” Chloe cried, looking away hurriedly.  She slammed the door shut again after her and leaned against the wall as the sudden blush that had appeared on her face, mostly out of embarrassment for Jenna she was sure, took its sweet time going away.

And then after it did, Chloe started to wonder why Jenna was so embarrassed.  She had had multiple gym classes with Chloe before and had never seemed to have any problems changing in front of anyone, and Jenna was the opposite of ashamed of her body.  She knew this because of the one asshole from sophomore year who had walked right up to Jenna and asked her if she should really be eating that cupcake. Hell hath no fury like the rumors that Jenna had spread about him.

So Chloe had no clue what could explain why Jenna had looked so incredibly embarrassed… until she remembered the harsh red patterns she had seen all over Jenna’s arms.

Self harm scars briefly went through her mind, but Chloe quickly dismissed it.  They had been too irregular and too thick. They looked more like…

Oh.  They looked more like the burn marks that covered Rich’s arms.

That’s right.  Jenna had been at Jake’s house that night too.  Chloe was pretty sure the people who hadn’t been there during the fire had been her and Brooke, who had gone home early for obvious, Christine, who had gone home shortly after her talk with Jeremy according to her, and Jeremy, whose Squip had gotten him out just before the fire.  Jake and Rich were accounted for, but the final two people on the list, being Jenna and Michael, were not. In fact, she only knew Michael was at the party because Jeremy had once mentioned talking to him during it. The two of them had never told anyone what had happened, and Chloe was pretty sure no one had ever asked them.

Except…

Except Jenna had _told her._  When she’d first called Chloe she had described her experience, as in seeming very unreal with a lot of screaming.  It wasn’t out of the picture that she had been in the house while it was on fire. Chloe had just been too focused on _what_ Jenna had told her to ask if she was okay.

Well, shit.  More stuff she had to apologize for.  Chloe had been working harder than probably anyone knew on her current goal of not being an asshole, but it was hard to look at past actions objectively and figure out what needed to be apologized for and what didn’t.  And she had personally decided she wasn’t a huge fan of Jeremy and Rich’s strategizes of ‘apologize for anything and everything they think they’ve ever done wrong.’

But all of that meant Chloe was a little stuck on the ‘I want to be a better person’ thing.

And she had no idea how to articulate _any_ of this, so when Jenna opened the door in a baggy t-shirt and sweatpants, the only thing Chloe managed to get out was: “You good?”

Jenna still looked more than a little embarrassed, but nodded anyway and muttered something about seeing Chloe back upstairs before giving her the bathroom.

Chloe walked inside and stood for a moment before giving a sigh of half guilt and half resignment.

She changed and walked back upstairs where everyone was camped out in various places in the living room, including Rich and Jake practically sleeping on top of each other on the couch against the far wall (something about the fact that they already shared a bed), Christine and Jeremy zipping two sleeping bags together and cuddling on the floor, Brooke and Michael sitting on the other couch debating about something Brooke had shown Michael, and Jenna claiming the recliner next to the spot Chloe had claimed on the floor.

As Chloe walked into the room she was suddenly held up for a minute because she was struck by how… pretty Jenna looked in her pajamas.

Which was a little ridiculous.  Partly because those clothes were clearly very old and also because Jenna was in the middle of a very unattractive yawn that ended with a burp.  So why the fuck did Chloe suddenly feel her face getting hot, what the fuck?

She quickly turned away and laid down in the sleeping bag she’d laid out, making sure to keep her face turned away from Jenna lest she pick up on anything with her practically supernatural skills of observation.

“Yo, Chloe!  You sleepy, princess?” Jake called from across the room on the couch.

“Fuck off, Dillinger!” Chloe yelled without turning her head.  “It’s been a long day!”

“A Saturday of doing almost nothing?” Brooke asked from the couch.

“You weren’t with me the _whole_ time.” Chloe said, finally sitting up when she was sure her face wasn’t bright red anymore.  “Maybe I used the time machine in the bathroom and went back to save humanity.”

“That was pretty nerdy, Chloe, are Jer and I rubbing off on you?” Michael asked.

“Not on your life.” Chloe said, putting a hand on her hip.

“I think they are, Chloe, I think it’s time to admit it!” Rich called.

Chloe groaned and rolled her eyes as both Michael and Rich laughed.

“I wanna watch Barbie and the Three Musketeers!” Brooke called, holding up the movie.

“God, no!” Chloe yelled.  “I thought I buried that deep in the movie cabinet never to be seen again!”

“You hid it behind another row of movies.” Brooke said, raising an eyebrow.  “I know you too well, Chloe. You have no secrets from me.”

“Hell yes, let’s watch Barbie!” Rich cried in excitement, jumping up before running to and snatching the movie from Brooke.  Brooke cheered, and they both rushed towards the TV and began setting up the movie. They would both spend the next hour and a half singing along to all of the songs, purposely very loud and off-key.

Chloe, on the other hand, would spend the next hour and a half shoving her pillow over her ears and trying to fall asleep.

But when the movie ended and they pulled out Barbie and the Diamond Castle, Chloe got up, grabbed her blanket, and marched up the stairs to her bedroom.

Only to be interrupted a couple minutes later by knocking on her door.

“What?” Chloe groaned, sitting up.

Jenna opened the door a second later holding her blanket.  “Sorry, but is there another room I could sleep in? I am also not in the mood to listen to another Barbie movie.”

“Yeah, hang on, I got a pull-out bed.” Chloe said before she could think twice.  She hopped up and pulled the bed out from underneath her own and tossed Jenna one of her pillows.

“Thanks.” Jenna said, stretching before laying down.

“Hey, um, Jenna?” Chloe asked.

Jenna glanced over.  “Yeah?”

“Sorry about earlier, I was just—”

“It’s okay.” Jenna said, starting to blush again.

“No, I mean those… were burns, right?”

Jenna nodded, looking away.  “I don’t invite people to look at them if that’s what you’re apologizing for.”

“I was actually apologizing for uh…” Chloe rubbed the back of her neck, looking away herself now.  “Sorry for not checking if you were okay. Like, the day after the fire, you told me you were there, and I was just worried about the gossip you were telling me.  I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, that… didn’t feel great.” Jenna admitted.  “But thanks for apologizing.”

Chloe nodded, and Jenna was asleep a couple minutes later.

Leaving Chloe to stare at her for nearly half an hour and wonder why exactly she was doing that.

Then Jenna started snoring, and Chloe gave up, hitting her gently with a pillow to get her to stop before rolling over and going to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe has a problem, as well as with a couple of people in mind to ask for help with said problem.

When Chloe woke up the next morning Jenna was already gone, and at first she couldn’t quite pin down the reason for disappointment in her chest.

Fuck, it was because she wanted to watch her sleeping again.

Chloe, stop it, that’s _creepy._

Chloe sat up and stretched before wandering over to her dresser and grabbing her hairbrush.  She dragged the brush through her hair and put on her makeup before heading down the steps towards the kitchen.

Jenna was sitting at the table talking quietly to Michael, and everyone else seemed to still be asleep in the other room.

_“Woah,_ Chloe Valentine is up voluntarily before 11AM?” Michael asked, raising an eyebrow.  “Something must have happened.”

“I decided I didn’t want to wait to make your lives better with my presence.” Chloe deadpanned.

Jenna laughed a little.  “How do you _already_ have makeup on, Chloe?”

“I have a switch on the side of my head.  I never actually stop wearing it.”

“And apparently you are three times as sarcastic in the morning.” Michael said, leaning back at the table.  “You makin’ us breakfast or what?”

“Get it yourself, lazy ass.” Chloe said.

“I’m pretty sure ‘lazy ass’ isn’t an actual insult.”

“Oh, you want me to call you an insult.  Get it yourself, _Michael.”_

“Oooh!” Jenna said, pointing a finger at Michael, who rolled his eyes.

“You guys know you’re gonna wake up everyone else, right?” Michael said.

“It’s their own fault for staying up too late watching Barbie movies.” Chloe said.  “And I think you’re just ignoring the fact that that was an excellent comeback.”

“That _was_ an excellent comeback, I’ll gladly admit that.  I just think that some people in the other room are incredibly light sleepers who are very grumpy when woken up.”

“Well if Jeremy has issues sleeping, he shouldn’t have slept in the same room as five other people.” Jenna said.

“Who says I was talking about Jeremy?”

“Do you know anyone else’s sleeping patterns?” Jenna asked.

Michael raised an eyebrow.  “As a matter of fact, Jeremy sleeps like a rock, and I was talking about Brooke.”

Chloe shrugged.  “He’s right, she does get like that.”

Jenna chuckled.  “Alright, you got me, Mell.”

“Okay, what do you want you want for breakfast?” Chloe asked.

“Are you serious, I was kidding.” Michael said.

“I probably know my kitchen better than you.  I’ll get out everything you need and _then_ you can make your own breakfast.”

“Okay, that’s fair.” Michael said.  “But I really just want some toast.”

“Yes, I’d like a five course meal with a different drink in between each course.” Jenna said, crossing her legs and folding her hands in a way Chloe was pretty sure was supposed to resemble royalty.

“Suck my dick, Jenna.”

Jenna laughed, and for a second Chloe was caught off guard by it, staring at her.  Luckily, Jenna’s was laughing hard enough that her eyes were closed (okay, calm down, it wasn’t _that_ funny), but Chloe had to go over and grab Michael’s bread and set it by the toaster to avoid Jenna seeing her cheeks getting bright red.

Part of her was yelling at herself to either figure out what this was or stop it so Jenna wouldn’t notice—

And the other part really wanted to see Jenna laugh again.

…

Chloe spent the rest of the day after everyone left deep in thought, trying to figure out exactly what was happening, and she actually very quickly came upon a conclusion: a crush.

Chloe had never considered such a thing before, but she realized it wasn’t completely out of the question.  It wasn’t like she hadn’t found girls beautiful before, and maybe been flustered talking to them. She wasn’t quite sure if that was the same thing as attraction, but the more she thought about it, the more it sounded like it.

She didn’t have a problem with the idea that she wasn't straight— she didn’t think she did, anyway.  Obviously Jake and Rich weren’t straight, and Brooke had told her she wasn’t straight. She had never been bothered by any of that.  It was more the surprise of it all that was catching her off guard.

By the time her mom called her downstairs for dinner she had decided she needed to talk to someone about this first.

…

“Brooke.” Chloe said, dropping her tray on the lunch table.  “Can we talk for a second?”

Brooke looked up with a bizarre expression on her face of both surprise and ‘I totally saw this coming.’  “Sure.”

She stood up and they both walked outside the cafeteria doors and stood in the area with tables that was really supposed to be for seniors when they wanted to eat outside.

“Okay so—”

“Is this about Jake?”

Chloe did a double take.  “What?”

“About Jake dating Rich.”

Chloe blinked again.  Oh. _Oh._  Brooke thought she was jealous.

In all honesty, Chloe had been really surprised at the _lack_ of jealousy she’d felt when Jake and Rich revealed that they were dating.  In fact, she remembered revealing them herself by screaming a triumphant “THAT IS A BOYFRIEND HUG!” on a Gaming Night at Michael’s.

It was weird, because when Jake had had a crush on Christine she was the picture of jealous ex-girlfriend.  Maybe some of her actions then had been tied into her jealousy of Brooke (which she _swore_ she was working on), but a lot of it was still, quite frankly, her desire to have sex with Jake Dillinger reacting with the feeling of fury at Jake wanting to have sex with someone else.

But then Jake had started dating Rich Goranski, and Chloe had been… _so happy_ for them.  All of the jealousy just wasn’t there anymore.

But she wasn’t surprised everyone thought that it was just going to be a delayed reaction.  She might need to clear with Rich and Jake that it wasn’t.

“No, this isn’t about Jake.” Chloe said.  “Honestly, I’m… I’m _fine.”_

Brooke looked surprised.  “Oh. Okay. Then what’s up?”  When Chloe hesitated, Brooke’s gaze turned concerned.  “You good?” she asked.

“Yeah, I—” Chloe bit her lip and just blurted out: “You’re not straight, right?”

“Yeah, you know that.  Why?”

“How’d you know that?”

“Oh, um— I actually had a crush on you back in middle school.”

Chloe blinked once again in shock.  “Oh.”

“Oh, it’s okay!” Brooke said, holding up her hands.  “Honestly it lasted like a week. It was just enough to make me realize, that hey, I can also have a thing for girls.”

“Oh, um, honestly I’m kinda relieved, because I don’t want this to be awkward…” Chloe muttered, rubbing her arm.

Brooke’s eyes widened.  “You have a crush on a girl?!”

“Uh… maybe?  Yeah. Yes, I think so.” Chloe said.

Brooke literally squealed, before grabbed Chloe and shaking her back and forth.  “Who is it who is it tell me tell me tell me!”

“Aaah, it’s Jenna!” Chloe said, her voice vibrating as Brooke shook her.

Brooke froze with somehow even wider eyes.  “Oh my God. You two would make such a cute couple!”

“No, that is not the goal!”

Now Brooke’s face fell and she started pouting.  “Why not?”

“Because, A, I don’t even know if she likes girls, and B—”

“Chloe, Jenna’s a lesbian.” Brooke said in confusion.

Chloe stopped talking for a second.  “What? She is? How do you know that?”   _How do I not know that?_

“Uh, she came out to everyone in middle school?”

“She _did?”_

“Do you seriously not remember?  I mean, she doesn’t necessarily talk all the time about girls she finds cute, but—”

“I— I never even paid attention to Jenna Rolan until recently,” Chloe whispered, looking down at her feet.

“Woah, hey.” Brooke grabbed her hands, and Chloe looked back up hesitantly.  “It’s okay. You’re really trying to be better, Chlo, I can see it. I’m proud of you.”

Chloe bit her lip.  “Really?”

“Of course.” Brooke said, with a little ‘duh’ smile.  “And now that that is cleared up, why is dating her not the end goal?”

“Because I clearly don’t deserve her if I never even noticed she _came out_ in middle school?”

“Chloe.  Don’t you remember what Jeremy said about self-deprecating comments not being a good reason for someone not liking you?”

Chloe snorted a little.  “He’s a hypocrite.”

Brooke laughed a little herself.  “That’s true. But he’s also right.”

“I just… this is also all so new to me.  I don’t know if I’m comfortable with dating a girl yet, since I like, just yesterday realized I’m not straight.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s a totally valid reason.” Brooke admitted.

“I just want to be able to like, hide my feelings?  I don’t want to make things awkward.”

“We are talking about _Jenna Rolan,_ Chlo.”

“I know, that’s the problem!  She’s like, the most observant person in the universe, and I have already had to physically turn myself away from her twice so she doesn’t notice me blushing.”

“Oh, wow, you really _do_ like her.”

“Can you help me?”

“I think there’s a different person you should talk to.” Brooke said with a knowing smile.

“Who’s that?”

…

Chloe had been to Rich and Jake’s hotel room/apartment/place they were living several times, but every single time she had to ask for the freaking room number.  It was like it wouldn’t stick in her head.

Finally, she got the number again (number 12 on the first floor, she should seriously just put a note in her phone), and knocked before proceeding to wait several minutes before knocking again, louder.  She knew they were here, it was like an hour after school was over and Jake wasn’t cleared to participate in any extracurricular activities yet.

Finally, Jake opened the door, and Chloe blurted “Rich I need your help!” before she could process who it was.

Jake blinked a couple times.  “I’m sorry, I’m afraid you have me mistaken for the greatest boyfriend in the universe.” he said.

“Stooooop!” Rich cried, shoving Jake playfully as he approached the door.  “Your adorableness is gonna kill me!”

It took a second for Chloe to realize something else, but when she did she grinned.  “Is that a _hickey?”_  she asked, pointing at Rich’s neck, as Rich went bright red.  “Did I interrupt you two _making out?”_

Rich’s face got even redder as Jake leaned casually against the door, grinning.  “Yeah. Kinda rude, Chloe. We were having fun.”

Rich buried his head in his hands as Chloe laughed.  “I actually did need to talk about something, but if you two want me to come back later…”

“No, please God!  Just no jokes and get in here!” Rich screamed into his hands.

Jake laughed a little and stood back so Chloe could walk past him.  When Rich and Jake finally walked in after Rich looked noticeably less embarrassed, though his face was still a little pink.

“Seriously, why are you so embarrassed?” Chloe asked, genuinely confused.  “I’m sure you’ve made out with people before.”

Rich mumbled something.

“What?”

“I didn’t like any of them before.” Rich said a little louder.

Well, shit, that was adorable.  And now Jake was blushing too.

“Wow, um, okay.  How do you two manage to turn making out into something cute?” Chloe asked.

“What do you _want?”_ Rich groaned.

“Uh…”  Now it was Chloe’s turn to blush.  “I need some advice from you.”

“From me?” Rich asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, uh… I kinda have a massive crush on this person and I need to hide it from her?”

“Woah, _her?”_ Jake asked, grinning once again.  “Congrats, Chloe.”

“Yeah, um, problem is it’s Jenna Rolan.”

“Ooh, yikes.” Jake said.

“Yeah.  And Brooke suggested I ask you how you managed to hide your feelings for so long.”

“Hmm.” Rich mused.  “‘Hide’ is a relative term here, I think.  We are talking about Jake Dillinger, winner of the World’s Most Gullible Oblivious Idiot Award.”

“You are never going to let that joke die, are you?” Jake asked.

“Never.  The name may be awkward, but now you’re stuck with it.” Rich said.  “But, yeah. The only thing I had to do to hide my feelings was not say them outright.”

“I mean, you kinda failed at that too…” Jake said.

“Best failure ever.” Rich said.  “As for how to hide things from Jenna Rolan, I would start with getting really good at controlling your body language.”

“That sounds impossible.” Chloe said.  “But I guess you’re right. It would probably be easier to hide my crush if I didn’t know it was a thing.”

“Well, that’s not an option anymore.” Jake pointed out.

Chloe sighed.  “I know.”

“Another options is avoiding her, but…” Rich trailed off.

“Yeah, no way.  I’m trying to _not_ ignore her anymore.”

“Yeah.” Rich said.  “I hate to break it to you Chloe, but I think it’s really up to you to not reveal anything’s changed.  Oh, but I do have one rule for you: no staring. That will give you away like that.” Rich snapped his fingers.

“No creepy staring.  Got it.”

“Hey, staring isn’t creepy.  Sometimes it’s a staring contest.” Jake said, turning to look at Rich, who turned back as they both held each other’s gazes with a determined look until finally Rich broke with laughter.

“Ha!  I win every time!” Jake called triumphantly.

“Right.” Chloe said.  “Well, I’ll leave you two to your… staring contests.”

Rich went bright red again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe needs to have a conversation with a certain hilarious someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes hello welcome to the chapter that has almost nothing to do with Jenna
> 
> Trigger Warning: mentions of the Chloe and Jeremy thing on Halloween

Chloe is apparently very bad at not staring.

Look, she’s _trying,_ okay?  She really is.  And she’s gotten pretty good at controlling her blushing, but Jenna is so goddamn _cute,_ and it would be really great if Michael would stop making jokes that were so goddamn funny so Chloe wouldn’t have to hear her goddamn laugh.

So, in the style of the true queen bitch that she was, she decides to approach Michael and yell at him about it.  And since yelling at someone had almost no effect if they knew it was coming, Chloe went over to Michael’s house randomly one day after school.

And by ‘randomly’, and ‘knew it was coming’ she meant she had no idea she was going to do so until she was knocking on Michael’s door.

But his moms must not have been home, because there was no reply, so Chloe managed to use her expert skills of lockpicking to find out where Michael’s spare key was.  (It was under the mat. They really needed a better hiding place.)

The house was indeed empty, but Michael’s shoes were by the door, so she knew he was home.

“Hey, Michael?” she called.  “Sorry you didn’t know I was coming, I didn’t really know I was coming, but—”

Chloe stopped when she realized she was getting absolutely no response.

She paused, walking down to the basement, and finding Michael with his headphones on, slowly bopping his head to a beat she couldn’t hear.

“Michael?” she called.  Michael jumped, yanking the headphones down.

“Jesus— Chloe, how did you get in here?”

“Pick a better hiding spot.” Chloe said, tossing Michael the spare key.

“I knew it!” Michael called.  “I tell my moms _all the time._  Everyone puts it under the mat!”

“You are correct.” Chloe said, sitting on his bed like he had offered.

“So what’d ya need?” Michael asked, pausing his music and setting his headphones to the side.

“I’ve come to yell at you about being so goddamn hilarious.”

Michael blinked.  “What?”

“You keep making all these jokes at lunch that make Jenna laugh, and considering I have recently discovered my massive gay crush on her, you are not helping by making her laugh.”

Michael was now grinning bigger than the sun itself.  “That… that is fucking awesome. I’m making twice as many jokes now.”

“No you are _not!_  Michael, I can’t _take it!”_

Michael laughed until he had to grab the side of the bed to keep from falling off.

“Dude, it’s not _that_ funny.” Chloe said.

“That’s up for me to decide.” Michael said, grinning at her again.

Chloe groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Okay, okay, I’ll attempt to stop being my hilarious self at least until you start dating Jenna Rolan.” Michael said.  Chloe glared at him. “But it will be a hard path to travel!” Michael called, putting a hand to his forehead. “There will be many lonely nights.  I make no promises.”

Chloe groaned once again before spitting out a short “Thank you” and walking towards the steps.

Before she was stopped by Michael giving a nearly heartbreaking sigh.

Chloe stopped and turned back around.  “You good?” she asked hesitantly, when she saw Michael fiddling with his headphones cords.

Michael jerked upwards.  “You’re still here?!”

“Dude, I didn’t even get a chance to open the door,” Chloe said, walking back over.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Michael said, waving her off.  “Just tired.”

“Michael, no offense, but I don’t believe you.  You’re doing that thing where you’re sad and try to hide it.”

“I don’t do that.” Michael protested.

_“Michael._  You _always_ do that.”

Michael looked down and sighed again.  “Today’s just… been really crummy I guess.”

“Any particular reason?” Chloe asked, sitting back down again.

“Just bad memories.”

“From the Squipcident?”

Michael nodded.

“You wanna talk about it?”

Michael shook his head as even he started talking.  “Just, like… I didn’t see Jer much today, which shouldn’t be a big deal, but… there was this whole thing Jeremy explained called optic nerve blocking, where he actually couldn’t see me.  And I don’t know. Jeremy has other friends, and he isn’t obligated to hang out with me all the time, but sometimes I just—” Michael wiped at his eyes, and Chloe put a hand on his shoulder.  “Worry he thinks… Especially with what happened on Halloween.” Michael muttered, and Chloe tipped her head in confusion.

“What happened on Halloween?” she asked.

Michael shook his head.

Chloe sat up straighter.  “Oh God, you weren’t hurt, were you?”

“Emotionally.” Michael mumbled, probably a half attempt at a joke that fell flat.

“What did he do?” Chloe asked.

“He—” Michael stopped.

“It’s okay.” Chloe decided.  “You don’t have to tell me.”

“He called me a loser and then left me alone in the bathroom and I had a panic attack.” Michael said.  “And that’s kinda been stuck in my head all day.”

Chloe was silent for a while as Michael leaned against her like otherwise he would fall over.

“Hey, Michael?” Chloe said after a while.  “Can I say something? You have full right to get offended and yell at me and kick me out of your house.”

“Um.” Michael blinked.  “Okay.”

“I think you might have some dependency issues.  Particularly in regards to Jeremy.”

Michael said nothing for a moment, and then he folded his arms on his knees and set his head in them.  “Yeah.” he muttered. “Okay, maybe.”

“I’m not excusing Jeremy’s behavior, I hope you understand that.  Have you talked to him about this?”

Michael shook his head.

“Michael.”

“He feels like shit about enough, Chloe.”

“See, that’s the kind of ‘putting his feelings before mine’ thing that keys me into the dependency issues.”

Michael sighed, but said nothing else.

“I think you should tell him.” Chloe said, moving back and forth a bit to try and diffuse the suddenly very awkward tension.

“You’re probably right.” Michael admitted.

They were silent for another minute.  “Wait.” Michael said. “How’d you know about the dependency issues stuff?  That doesn’t really seem your thing.”

“Um.” Chloe was positive her face was bright red.  “Jenna really likes psychology and has liked talking about psychology recently…?”

Michael burst out laughing.  “Oh my God.” he wheezed.

Chloe hid her face in her hands.  “She sounds so excited and it’s fucking precious, okay?” she said to them.

Michael was still grinning at her when she looked up.  “Chloe,” he said. “I hope you understand that that’s kind of adorable.”

“I’m not adorable, I’m a badass!” Chloe shrieked, waving her arms in a way that probably was not helping her case.

“Sure you precious thing you.” Michael said.

Chloe buried her face again.  “Shut up.” she mumbled.

Michael tapped her on the shoulder.  “You wanna play some video games with me?  ‘Course, that might be too nerdy for the precious badass, but—”

“If I say yes will you stop?”

“No promises.”

“Fine.”

That was where Chloe remained until Brooke called telling her dinner would be in a half hour, so she needed to come back to her house.  They had planned a sleepover, just the two of them this time.

Chloe stood and walked over to the steps before turning back to Michael.  She had specifically waited until she was already about to leave to say this, because she didn’t want to risk Michael blowing up at her about it.  “Okay, um,” she said. “I don’t know if this’ll help, and again, I’m not excusing his behavior,” Chloe said. “Or— or mine, _of course,_ but—  But if what happened in the bathroom was after everything that happened with me, Jeremy definitely wasn’t in the mental state to have an angry conversation with his best friend.”

Michael gave her a look.  “What happened with you?”

He sounded genuinely confused, and Chloe froze.  “He— he didn’t—” she stammered. “He didn’t tell you?”

Michael sat up from his beanbag, catching onto the tone of Chloe’s voice.  “Didn’t tell me what?”

Chloe stumbled backwards further towards the stairs.  “Oh my God I shouldn’t have said that. I thought for sure he’d— no, I can’t.  That’s his story to tell, I—”

Michael was staring at her in shock and confusion.  “Chloe?” he asked nervously.

“Uh— forget I said that okay bye!” Chloe turned and ran from the house as fast as possible.

She got into the car she’d borrowed from Brooke and drove to her house way too quickly before yanking out her phone.

 

Chloe: jeremy oh my god im so sorry

 

It took less than a minute to get a reply, but Chloe didn’t even look at it at first.

She had apologized to Jeremy over and over, but Brooke had actually confronted her first.  She had grown much more confident after the Squipcident, and much more willing to stand up to Chloe when she deserved it.  So she had demanded an explanation for cheating with her boyfriend, and in between her promises to try and stop with the jealousy, she had somehow mentioned how weird Jeremy’s actions had been (what she remembered of them anyway, she was pretty drunk at that point).

A look of horror had passed over Brooke’s face, and she had quietly asked that didn't Jeremy have a Squip on Halloween?  And Squips could kind of, you know, control you?

That was when Chloe realized she had one hell of an apology to make.

So she’d asked Brooke to pull him aside next time she saw him (she was _not_ going to talk to him alone), which happened to be at her house over their winter break study catch-ups for Jeremy and Rich, and Chloe had apologized until she couldn’t breathe.

Another _ding_ jolted Chloe out of her thoughts.

 

Jeremy: Chloe?  Why are you sorry?

Jeremy: What’s wrong?

 

Chloe typed another frantic reply.

 

Chloe: michael was havign a really awful day and i was trying to help him feel better and he told me whar happened on halloween and i said you probably weren’t in the best mental state because of the shit with me cause i thogbt you alrwady told him that

Jeremy: You did what

Chloe: im so sorry i thougr you already told him

Jeremy: Why would I tell him

Chloe: i dunno to explain your actuons or becuae hes ur best friend and you trust him

Jeremy: r u seriously trying to guilt me

Chloe: no no no no not the tone i was goung for i swear im sorry dont be mad

Jeremy: I’m not mad Chloe

Jeremy: Not the tone I was going for

Jeremy: I guess I have to tell him now

Chloe: i'm so sorry

Jeremy: …

Jeremy: Can I come talk to u first?

Chloe: I’m at Brooke’s

Jeremy: I’ll be there in 10

 

With that, Chloe turned off the car and walked up to knock on Brooke’s door.

Brooke opened it with a cheerful smile.  “Hey, you ready for this sleepover?”

Chloe forced a smile onto her face which Brooke saw through instantly.  “Yep!”

“What’s wrong?” Brooke asked, putting a hand on her hip.

“Uh… Jeremy’s coming over in ten minutes to talk about something.”  Her tone of voice made it clear what she was talking about.

“I’ll make popcorn?” Brooke offered.

Chloe smiled.  “Thanks. You’re the best.”

“I know.” Brooke said in a sing song voice, walking to the kitchen.

A couple minutes later there came a knock on the door, and Chloe opened it to Jeremy standing there wringing his hands.

“Uh, hey Jerry.” Chloe said.

“Yeah.” Jeremy said.

They both stood there in silence for about ten seconds.

“Uh— come in!”

“Yeah!”

They walked into Brooke’s living room and sat on one of Brooke’s couch, and Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck.

Chloe said nothing, intending to let him start.

“So…” Jeremy said.  “You accidentally told Michael what happened.”

“I mean, not specifically.” Chloe said, rubbing the back of her own neck.  “But he now knows _something_ happened.”

Jeremy sighed, leaning back into the couch while somehow still looking very tense.  “I— I didn’t tell him because I didn’t want him to forgive me for what happened just because he pities me.”

“But… hasn’t he forgiven you now without knowing?”

“Yeah.  Now I don’t tell him because he’ll probably get mad at you and beat you up.”

“You— you didn’t tell him for _my sake?!”_ Chloe burst out, actually getting really pissed off now.

Jeremy flinched and scooted away from her, and Chloe stopped and gave herself a few seconds to calm down.  “Jeremy.” she said. “That’s not fair to you. I do not get to have my feelings taken into account here. If the only reason you weren’t telling him was because of me, all due respect Jerry, but knock it the fuck off.”

Jeremy laughed a little, before giving her a fond smile.  “Th-that’s… actually really mature of you Chloe.”

“I am mature.”  Well… “I am trying to be more mature.” Chloe amended.

Chloe looked at the way Jeremy’s shoulders were still curled up to his neck and whispered: “I hate that you’re scared of me.”

Jeremy paused.  “Rich said something similar once.” he muttered.  “If it’s any consolation, I hate being scared of you.”

Chloe hesitantly offered Jeremy her hand, and smiled a bit when Jeremy took it and squeezed.  “Hey, I love you Jerry.” she said. “Uh… no hetero?”

Jeremy tipped his head at her.  “You love me homosexually?”

“I don’t know, platonically?!  You’re important to me, you moron.  That’s what I’m trying to say.”

Jeremy smiled.  “I love you too, Chloe.”

They both stood up and walked towards the door, and as Jeremy opened it Chloe held her arms open as an offer, and to her relief, Jeremy gave her a quick hug before heading to the car in the driveway.

“Hey!” he called, before getting in the car, “speaking of homosexual love, good luck with Jenna!”

Chloe gasped.  “Who told?!”

“Rich.” Jeremy said with a little grin, climbing in the car.  Chloe glared in the general direction of Rich and Jake’s hotel room before watching Jeremy drive in the direction of Michael’s house.

She walked back inside to find Brooke somehow holding four giant tubs of popcorn in the door of the kitchen.  “Brooke, wha…?”

“I got excited.” Brooke said.

“We cannot eat all that by ourselves.” Chloe said.

“Right.” Brooke walked over and set the popcorn down on the coffee table.  “I’m calling Chrissy and Jenna. Girls night!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Girls Night is honestly one of Chloe’s favorite things.

“Okay, okay, but what if Jake and Rich _could_ have kids, what would they look like?” Brooke asked, before shoving another mouthful of popcorn in her mouth.

“Naturally they’d be really short.” Chloe said before bursting into laughter from delirium.  It was almost three in the morning (yes on a school night, don’t judge them).

“Oh, yes, short and chubby and adorable.” Brooke agreed, folding her hands under her chin.  “And of course they’d love sports _and_ books, because as we all know, children are just combinations of their parents.”

“Well, I mean, _technically,”_ Jenna said, from where she was splayed out on the couch about an inch above Chloe, splayed out on the floor.

“Wait, why have we all just suddenly decided Jake and Rich are getting married?” Christine asked.

They all stared at her for a minute.

“Never mind, you’re right, they totally are.”

“Are you gonna marry Jerry?” Brooke asked, throwing herself into Christine’s lap.

“I, uh,” Christine was suddenly appearing to be fighting to control a blush.

“Oh my God, _you love him!”_ Jenna cried, pointing at her.

“Wha— no, I mean— wait—”

“You love him, you love him, you love him!” Brooke started chanting, which was quickly picked up by both Chloe and Jenna.

“You love him, you love him, you love—”

“Okay, okay, fine, yes!  I am totally in love with him!” Christine cried, hiding her face (and grin) in her hands.

Everyone in the room cheered.

“But Brooke!” Christine called, looking up.  “You do realize ‘marry Jerry’ rhymes, right?”

Brooke gasped.

“THE DRINK SERVICE OF SHAME!” Christine cried, pointing at Brooke as she slowly rose and grabbed the notepad on the table to take everyone’s drink order.

“But wait,” Jenna pointed out, with a mock curiosity.  “Didn’t Christine also rhyme quoting her?”

“OHHHH!” Chloe screamed, pointing as Christine clapped her hands over her mouth in horror before sighing and climbing up.

“Make me a chocolate shake!” Jenna cried.  “With actual ice cream!”

Chloe nodded.  “Two chocolate shakes!” she declared.

Brooke and Christine both sighed.  “Coming right up.” Christine said, as her and Brooke walked to the kitchen.

Jenna and Chloe high fived as they left, and Chloe was about to sit back down when Jenna suddenly threaded her fingers through Chloe’s, and they were holding hands.

Chloe turned and stared at her for a minute, but Jenna just grinned.  “I wanna show you something.” she said.

_“Okay.”_ Chloe squeaked, climbing up to follow Jenna to her bags by the front door.

Jenna reached inside and pulled out a binder, which she carried back over to the couch.  She sat down and patted the seat next to her. Chloe sat a respectable three inches away, only for Jenna to pull her straight to her side, causing Chloe to squeak again.

Jenna opened the binder to reveal pages and pages of—

Oh sweet Lord Almighty no.

“You planned your whole wedding?!” Chloe exclaimed, and she was definitely not controlling the blush currently on her face.

“With changes willing to be made for whatever my fiancée wants.” Jenna said.  “This is just a guideline. I doubt my actual wedding will be much like this when so much of it will depend on the other person.”  Jenna flipped a couple pages to reveal a beautiful dress. It almost looked like a cloud, with little ruffles in front and draping in a circle around her feet.  And of course, because Jenna had decided to torture her tonight, though she looked younger, _she_ was actually _wearing the dress in a picture._

“My mom took me shopping for my 13th birthday to try wedding dresses.” she said.  “Of course, this isn’t the actual one I’ll be wearing, because the fitting will probably be majorly different, but this is the kind of design I want.”

“Your mom took you shopping for wedding dresses for your 13th birthday?” Chloe asked in bewilderment.

“No, we were just trying them on.  She has a friend who’s a manager in a dress shop and managed to let us try a bunch on without actually buying anything.  Mom tried some on too, just ‘cause. I had just come out to her, and she decided that her answer was going to be taking me to look at dresses and gushing about how pretty my wife and I were going to look together the whole time.”  Jenna looked _lit up._  “It was so much fun.”

“I’ve… gotta admit,” Chloe said.  “That’s not the kind of thing I would pin you down for enjoying.”

Jenna _laughed, goddammit._  “I can understand that.  I’m not exactly a girly girl.  I guess my wedding has just always been that thing I love to think about.”

“That’s totally fair.” Chloe said.  “I think about mine sometimes too.”

Jenna gave her a pointed look, and she stopped.

“Jenna?” Chloe said.  “Why are you showing me this?”

Jenna smiled, and opened her mouth to answer when Brooke called: “Alright, here’s your homemade chocolate shakes, you selfish pigs!” from the kitchen and her and Christine walked back in.

They noticed Jenna and Chloe basically pressed against each other on the couch and stopped.  “Are we interrupting something?” Christine asked.

“NO!” Chloe screeched leaping up from the couch and grabbing the shake from Brooke before running past them into the kitchen and hiding by pressing herself against the wall.

Wow.

Subtle, Chloe.

“Fuck.” Chloe whispered, setting the shake on the counter and pressing her hands into her face.  There go all her chances of hiding her feelings. _Jake_ would have noticed that.

“Chloe?” Brooke asked gently, walking into the kitchen and leaning next to her on the wall.

“I’m a bisexual disaster.” Chloe said to her hands.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Brooke said, putting a hand on Chloe’s shoulder.

“Just leave me here to die.”

“Chloe, your Jeremy’s showing.”

Chloe groan-cried into her hands.  “Take me home?” she asked Brooke, peeking through her fingers.

“Chloe.”

“Please?”

Brooke sighed.  “Fine. You get to avoid _one night_ of awkwardness.  But you’re going to school tomorrow, so you’ll see Jenna then.”

“Sneak me out the back door.”

“Oh my God, Chloe, stop being so melodramatic.”

“My life is ending.”

Brooke sighed, nudging Chloe towards the kitchen door.  “I’ll be in the car in five minutes.”

…

Brooke waited until the door shut and walked back into the living room with her hands on her hips.  “Ladies.” she said. “We need a plan.”

“I’ll call the boys.” Christine said, grabbing her phone while Brooke watched _the_ Jenna Rolan start blushing.

…

Chloe wished she could say she wasn’t so melodramatic that she spent the whole night wallowing in self pity—

But you can see where this is going that is exactly what she did.

At some point she almost texted Jeremy about what he’d said about self-deprecating thoughts, but changed her mind at the last minute before continuing to wallow.

Her mom and dad came into the room after a bit, knowing she was supposed to be at a sleepover that night.

“Chloe, sweetheart, what’s the matter?” her mom asked, walking over and sitting on the bed, running a hand through Chloe’s hair.

“Mom?  Dad?” Chloe asked, looking up.

“Yes?” her dad asked, walking closer to stand above her mom.

“How would you feel if I wasn’t straight?”

They both exchanged a glance, and Chloe held her breath.

“Chloe,” her mom said, leaning down and kissing Chloe’s forehead.  “We love you no matter what.”

“Absolutely.” her father came and sat on the bed too now, as Chloe sat up to better talk to both if them.  “No matter who you love.”

Chloe smiled, unable to help tearing up a bit before both her parents pulled her in for a hug.

Her mom held her at arm's length after a second, raising an eyebrow.  “Does this mean there’s a lucky girl we should know about?”

Chloe went bright red even as she sighed.  “Yeah, but I kinda blew it tonight. She knows now.”

“Why does that have to be a bad thing?” her mom asked.  “Maybe she likes you too.”

Chloe snorted.

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short.” her dad said.  “I say talk to her tomorrow. Go for it. Watch her try to resist Chloe Valentine.”

“Oh my God, Dad!” Chloe cried.

“Oh, he’s right.  You’re definitely a catch, Chloe.”

“MOM!”

…

Chloe got up extra early that morning, despite her exhaustion.  She took a shower, curled her hair more than normal, put on her favorite perfume, her makeup, her jacket, and even ate a full breakfast.

“You going to talk to Jenna?” her mom asked at the breakfast table.

“Yeah, I am,” Chloe decided, because at some point during the night she had decided she was.  Jenna already knew, what did she have to lose?

Brooke showed up to pick Chloe up at her usual time, but instead of driving her to school, she drove in the complete opposite direction.

“Uh, Brooke?  Where are we going?”

“Well, last night, after you had your ‘Pity Me’ session and left—”

“Hey!”

“—we all got together and had a conversation about you and Jenna.”

“Uh… ‘we all?’”

“Everyone.  All seven of us, including Jenna herself.  And now I’ve kidnapped you and are taking you somewhere against your will.”

“I’ll call the police.” Chloe said, leaning against the window.

“Go ahead, I’ll watch.”

Chloe stuck her tongue out and gave in to the will of her kidnapper.

Brooke drove her to a park that the two of them had gone to a lot as little kids.  Standing on a bench right at the entrance to a park was Jenna, surrounded by Rich, Jake, Christine, Jeremy, and Michael on the ground.

“Brooke.” Chloe said.  “What is this?”

“Get out and go talk to Jenna.” Brooke said, parking the car.

Chloe slowly stepped out of the car, and as she did, everyone but Jenna backed away from the bench a little bit.

“Jenna?  What’s going on?” Chloe asked, trying to channel some kind of confidence but mostly just feeling really nervous.

As she approached the bench and looked up a little she noticed Jenna was smiling.  “I’m impressed.” she said. “You managed to keep it from me for almost a week, Chloe.”

Chloe was positive her face was bright red.  “I—”

“I’m sorry for teasing you a bit last night.” Jenna said.   _Teasing?_  “I couldn’t help it, you look so cute when you’re flustered, and I almost never get to see it.”

“What?” Chloe asked, a little dazed.

“I was going to ask you last night, but then you left.”  Jenna climbed down from the bench and walked over to Chloe, taking her hands.  Chloe’s gaze flicked down to them, and then back up to Jenna’s face. “So here it is, in no uncertain terms: Chloe Valentine, will you go out with me?”

Chloe blinked, not sure she wasn’t dreaming.  “Really?” she whispered.

Jenna laughed, and wow, it was the most beautiful sound Chloe had ever heard.  “Yes.” Jenna said, still laughing.

Chloe started smiling, and Jenna smiled back.  “Yes.” Chloe said. “Yes, I will go out with you!  Absolutely, yes!”

Jenna grinned, and Chloe’s heart did a little flutter.

“Can I…?” Chloe asked, and when Jenna nodded, Chloe leaned forward and captured Jenna’s lips in a sweet kiss.

Cheers came from all of their friends standing on the sidelines, Brooke having joined them when Chloe got the chance to look.

“GAY!” Michael called.

Jenna pulled away and grinned at Michael.  “You know it!” she called.

Chloe smiled at Jenna’s face again, and Jenna glanced back at her.  “You good?” she asked, still smiling.

“I am _so_ good.” Chloe said, smiling back at her, leaning in and kissing her again.  She could get used to being this good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s the end! I figured Jenna would not take long to figure anything out, and of course she wouldn’t waste time, that’s Rich and Jake and Jeremy and Christine’s jobs. Hope you enjoyed it, let me know your thoughts!


End file.
